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🏆 Playoffs
Last updated: April 18, 2025 9:24 AM EDT • 6 min read
The Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche kick off their first-round series on Saturday at American Airlines Center in Dallas (8:30 p.m. ET), with the visitors the marginal favorite at our best NHL betting sites to take Game 1. 
Our Avalanche vs. Stars prediction and NHL picks compare the rivals’ contrasting narratives entering the postseason while featuring three player prop picks.  
📅 Date: Saturday, April 19 
🕗 Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
📍 Location: American Airlines Center (Dallas)
📺 TV: Sportsnet, TNT, truTV, 
💻 Streaming: Max, Sportsnet+
📈 For full team stats and betting line history, follow our Avalanche vs. Stars matchup page. 
🎯 Score prediction: Avalanche 4, Stars 2
✅ Best bet: Avalanche ML (-120 via FanDuel)
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The Stars are looking to get the better of the Avalanche for a third straight meeting in the playoffs. For that to occur, they must dispatch an Avalanche team entering the postseason with more confidence than a student who aced an exam without studying. 
The Avs have the third-best record (16-5-2) since Feb. 26, with their multitude of personnel changes paying dividends. Deeper than the Pacific Ocean’s bottomless abyss, the Avs are stacked down the middle. Charlie Coyle and Brock Nelson have been acquitting themselves famously since arriving in the Mile High City. 
Meanwhile, the Stars’ collective morale resembles someone who lost their job and house on the same day.
While things can quickly turn around for a team that had the shortest Stanley Cup odds last week, entering the postseason on the back of a seven-game losing streak is as rotten as it gets. 
The seven-game losing streak was the Stars’ longest in over a decade. Head coach Peter DeBoer took some of the blame, saying he erred on the side of caution with those recovering from or susceptible to injury.
But it’s the players who must take accountability and dust themselves off quickly. Unfortunately, I don’t see it happening in Game 1, which has been notoriously woeful for Dallas. 
The Stars enter Saturday’s home game with seven straight defeats in Game 1 of a playoff series. Concurrent seven-game losing streaks won’t mesh well against an exuberant Colorado squad, which is expecting yet another boost, with club captain Gabriel Landeskog expected to suit up. Oh, and the Stars probably won’t have Jason Robertson, who suffered an injury in the regular season finale. 
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✅ Against the spread pick: Stars +1.5 (-250 via Caesars) ⭐⭐
✅ Moneyline pick: Avalanche (-120 via FanDuel) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
✅ Over/Under pick: Over 5.5 (-118 via FanDuel) ⭐⭐⭐
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🔎 Our NEW NHL player prop odds tool can help you find the best NHL odds across legal sportsbooks in your area!
MacKinnon only registered three assists in six games against the Stars last playoffs. I don’t expect the same comparatively anemic output this time, with the Avs megastar coming into the postseason rested and highly motivated.
He finished the season with 84 assists in 79 games, registering at least one in six of the final eight games. Nobody had more assists in the regular season than MacKinnon, and I expect him to find a way to secure one in Game 1. 
With -105 odds, BetMGM offers the best value of our best sports betting sites, where a winning $10 bet would profit $9.52.
🔢  Nathan MacKinnon prop bet odds
He struggled mightily in last season’s Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Oilers, but Duchene has enjoyed a significantly more productive season in 2024-25. 
He’s a bona fide leader of this Stars team, and he must show it for them to have any chance. Duchene was scorching in the final 29 games of the campaign, scoring at least one point in 22. Most of our best sports betting apps offer Over 0.5 points at -125, which would profit $8 on a winning $10 bet. 
🔢  Matt Duchene player prop bet odds
I expect Necas to benefit in the postseason from playing alongside MacKinnon. He has been consistently productive since joining the Avs, scoring 28 points in 30 games.
He had a point in three of the last four games of the regular season and finished last year’s playoffs strongly, with three points in the final two contests against the New York Rangers. Necas has at least a point in three of the previous four meetings with Dallas. bet365 offers the best price, whose -105 odds carry a 51.22% implied probability. 
🔢  Martin Necas player prop bet odds
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🛒 Shop around for the best Avalanche vs. Stars odds from our best sports betting apps.
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Opening odds via BetMGM.
Looking to bet on the NHL today? Here are our best NHL betting sites as determined by our expert team at Sportsbook Review, along with our best sportsbook promos ahead of today’s game.
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